High Wray

Basecamp

Shardale, Troutbeck valley

November 2015

Yearbook 2015

The Lakes

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/get-involved/

Welcome to High Wray Basecamp’s 2015 yearbook

Some of the groups who come to High Wray gain recognition of their experiences and their contribution towards the conser-vation of wild places through the John Muir award. The award can help those who par-ticipate to gain a better understanding and appreciation of how their time with us is more than just working and how their contribution fits into the bigger picture. A famous quote from John Muir sums it up: ‘When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe’.

www.johnmuiraward.org 

Nestled in its own private wooded grounds, High Wray is the National Trust’s full time volunteer centre in the

Lake District. We’re proud to be an integral part of the South Lakes property, a gloriously diverse area that

covers everything from lakeshore to high fell. Our area includes famous beauty spots like Tarn Hows and

Windermere lake, Beatrix Potter’s house Hill Top, an art gallery of her work and even a castle. With 15 working

farms and a wonderful network of paths linking all this together that’s a lot of land to look after!

That’s where we come in. We work closely with the rest of the ranger team to ensure that volunteers at High

Wray play an important part in helping to keep our marvellous countryside in tip top condition. More than

this, since opening in 1969 the High Wray ethos has been that volunteers should get as much out of working

with us as we do from them, something that still holds true today. We aim to help people feel that they’ve

contributed something towards a beautiful place, learnt some new skills and had some fun doing it!

We believe that there’s no such thing as a ‘typical volunteer’ and this yearbook aims to show the variety of

people it’s been our privilege to work with over the last year, as well as to say a very big thank you to each

Search under ‘High Wray Basecamp and

Bunkhouse NT’ and ‘like’ our site!

There’s not enough room to fit everything into this

yearbook so why not keep up with what’s happen-

ing at High Wray on our Facebook page? We post

regular stories and pictures about the different

groups we work with, places we’ve been and wild-

life we’ve seen as well as those odd little events

that just can’t be categorised!

and every one of them. We’d have a much harder job looking

after our fantastic area without your help - we look forward

to seeing many of you again in 2016!

Hill Top Tarn Hows

With such a diverse and interesting area there’s always

something happening in the South Lakes. Why not try

visiting:

http://beatrixpotterspatch.blogspot.co.uk/; for the

latest from Hill Top.

http://www.countryside-catchup.blogspot.co.uk/ for

weekly reports from our ranger team.

https://www.facebook.com/NTWrayCastle for Wray

Castle’s own Facebook page

Wray Castle

Want to get involved? To find out

more about Fix the Fells go to:

http://www.fixthefells.co.uk

An essential part of the Fix the Fells project, the

lengthsmen are a dedicated group of volunteers who

help look after our upland paths, spending a total of

1736 days volunteering on the fells in 2015! The

Basecamp team worked with them on three separate

projects—the path from Wrynose Pass to Red Tarn,

the Old Man of Coniston and the path along the

evocatively named St Raven’s Edge, above Kirkstone

pass. With Basecamp being a bunkhouse we’re also

the perfect place to hold more social affairs so we

were proud to once more host both the summer

‘blitz’ (inviting volunteers from Scotland to join us as

well) and their Xmas party. We’re looking forward to

contining to work on these and other projects with

this amazing group of volunteers in 2016!

The lengthsmen

Working holidays down low ….

National Trust working holidays are always

popular. With locations like this it’s easy to see

why, but add learning fascinating traditional skills

like hedgelaying and drystone walling, along with

meeting new people and playing your part in

helping look after the Lake District’s stunning

landscapes and they become weeks to remember!

‘Thank you all for a fantastic week. It was a real ‘blast’

and I still can’t believe what we achieved and how good

it looked’ Drystone walling holiday participant

Our ’Walk in’ upland working holiday enjoyed even better

weather and made the most of it by working on two different

sites, joining the upland path team on the Old Man of Coniston

for the second half of their week.

To find out more about working holidays go to

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/working-holidays

…. And working holidays up high!

In 2015 we ran two of our now legendary upland adventure camping working holidays. It was mostly dry for

both of them, giving everyone a chance to properly enjoy having the fells to themselves in the evenings — a

fantastic reward after a hard day’s work helping to look after them.

‘Best experience I’ve had after doing these for

15 years—great rangers and great company’

Upland camping holiday participant

We decided to get involved with the South Lakes volunteer group because we feel very privileged to live in such a beautiful part

of the country and felt this was our chance to give a little something back and help preserve our National Park for future

generations.

We soon realised that the role came with the added benefits of acquiring new skills, learning about the environment and

meeting many interesting new people along the way. Day 1 came along and we apprehensively turned up at The National Trust’s

“Basecamp”, near Hawkshead, looking a bit too clean and not quite sure what to expect and what we were letting ourselves in

for. We were met by our Ranger and started the day in the best possible way, with a brew.

We were briefed about the day’s activity and soon realised that our safety was of the upmost importance as well as our

enjoyment. Our first task was to repair a deer fence, protecting sensitive woodland, near Wray Castle. We were shown how to

knock in fence posts, attach pig nuts to the existing fence and cut away bushes and trees. We chatted as we worked and with

breaks for snacks and a lunch stop in the sun before we knew it the day was almost finished with one last, quite exciting job, to

chase out any possible deer before closing the woods up. We’re sure we spotted at least one! Well, we like to think we did!

Since then we’ve enjoyed many superb days out in many varied and stunning locations. We’re now proud to say we can

construct a lakeside path, re-build a dry stone wall (well, we understand how it should be done!) and know how to lay a

hawthorn hedge. We’ve also helped to build the children’s adventure play area at Wray Castle and especially loved being

involved with the Claife Viewing Station re-generation Project.

The Rangers are so enthusiastic about the work they do, always explain why we are carrying out the tasks and are keen to make

sure we enjoy the day and have a laugh along the way. Although the work can be quite demanding and strenuous they always

make sure we work within our limits and capabilities and the

days are never too long.It’s always a massive reward

knowing that your work has made a difference to such an

amazingly beautiful landscape.

All these projects have been so worthwhile and we even get

to annoy our family by proudly showing off our handy work

when out on walks in the area.

It would be great to see more people joining us on the

volunteer days so if you fancy giving it a go remember

there’s never any pressure to attend, if you're free, just add

your name to the list on the website!

See you in the hills!

Local volunteering The ‘South Lakes conservation group’ is a fantastic way for people from the local community to get involved

with our work. But don’t just take our word for it, here’s what two relatively new members Neil and Lesley

have to say about it!

If you’d like to get involved with the South Lakes

group go to h p://bit.ly/1ZR3bLZ  to find out more. 

The ‘Pilgrim’s way’

What can I say. Your help on renovating this path has exceeded what we could have possibly hoped for. I re-call I was going round in circles trying to establish ownership and get someone to do something about this abandoned path, to avoid pedestrians having to take their lives in their hands and walk on the main A592. We are grateful you broke this impasse and simply just got on with it. I know I have the full backing of the Village Association committee in expressing our thanks, both to you and those volunteers involved. I would be grateful if you could pass on our appreciation. Thankyou from Troutbeck village society

No one could decide who had responsibility to look after

this dramatically named roadside footpath in the

Troutbeck valley and it had become overgrown and

virtually impassable. So we decided to work with the

Eastern valleys National Trust team to bring it back to life

as a gesture of goodwill to the local community, despite it

technically not being on National Trust land. A local

councillor agreed to purchase the stone to resurface it and

with two days hard work by one of our regular

rehabilitation groups, Shardale, we transformed the path

— a great example of partnership working!

‘The experience has been

fabulous. I have learnt how a

path is built but also just how

much time, effort, energy and

resources go into preserving the

Lake District and also what is

available for you to enjoy, learn

and be a part of’

Shardale volunteer

Fisherty Howe Our second year of working on

Windermere lakeshore between Low

Wray campsite and Wray Castle saw

many more groups ‘lining up’to help

create a sustainable surface for this

popular path. Now walkers will be

able to get through without muddy

feet, the surrounding vegetation will

be protected and there will be less

soil run off through erosion into the

lake. Everyone wins!

Mind, Barrow branch

The Princes Trust, Fairbridge project -Tyneside, Bury and Salford

Glenburn Sports College Littledale Hall Therapeutic Community

Kendal College

‘I never thought I’d enjoy any of this but it was mint and

I had so much fun’ Fairbridge volunteer

The garden started to come

to life in spring and we had a

good harvest of beans and

courgettes this year. We’re

looking forward to seeing it

develop over the years!

Built to make better use of the space between our

two accommodation blocks, there’s lots to see in

the new Basecamp garden. We’ve got big wooden

compost bins, raised beds for fruit and veg, an

apple tree, wildflower meadows for bees and

butterflies, a herb garden and a boggy corner. With

a colourful information board all about food miles

and growing your own (and inviting Basecamp

guests to pick some of ours when in season),

composting and the plight of invertebrates we

hope the Basecamp garden will be a great source

of information and inspiration for years to come.

The Basecamp

garden

We had plenty of help building the garden, with Mind

from Barrow getting stuck in to removing the original to

make room for the fresh start and Littledale Hall lending

their skills to construct the new compost bins.

‘I’ve learnt that my determination that once only

served to get me what was bad in my life was today

positive determination to give something valuable

back for people to enjoy and appreciate and to give

me self worth and pride.’ Littledale Hall volunteer

West Runton helped us and the

South Lakes path team to

re-establish the original path

line through the historic mine

workings on the Old Man of

Coniston, while Kendal college

(left) and Chester National

Trust volunteers helped us

keep the woodland boundary

walls behind Basecamp stock

proof. Chester also got very

muddy unearthing an old field

drain on the Fisherty How path!

As well as our drystone walling and upland

footpath working holidays we had plenty

of other help with walls and paths in 2015. More help with stone

‘I loved learning the technical aspects of how to build a drain and will appreciate them a lot more when I see them on the

hills, because I know all the work that’s gone into them. There’s no such thing as ’path Fairies’!’ West Runton volunteer

Slashers ready! Glenburn Sports college bashed the bracken back from newly planted trees near Windermere

lakeshore, ensuring they’ll get enough light to grow and flourish in the coming years.

Bits and bobs TTP helped us maintain our access track

when it was damaged by storm water

and improve the woodland at Wray

Castle by removing Rhododendron

roots.

‘A jam packed week, experienced the

feeling of gratitude for where I was, the

beautiful scenery, the animals, National

Trust staff + the buildings. Giving back to

conserve our gorgeous outdoors I’ve learnt

I’m not scared of hard work, I work well in

a team’ TTP volunteer

Northumbria National Trust volunteers cleared out invasive species in the nature reserve at Ash Landing and

finished off the hedges at Hoathwaite.

With thanks to Mrs Lumley, the Garratts, the Pendle Forest Association and Di Lang for all of your continued

support. It means a lot to us!

www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Registered charity no 205846

Basecamp staff team 2015

Rob Clarke Philippa Barber Matt Tweed

High Wray Basecamp is also

available for private hire.

Contact us to find out more.

National Trust

High Wray Basecamp

High Wray

Ambleside

Cumbria

LA22 0JE

015394 34633

Longland block

Acland block